Myanmar military officials have been spotted at an arms expo in Israel despite a ban on arms sales to the country over the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.
Photos published in Israeli media last week showed Myanmar military officials in uniform touring the weapons and security conference in Israel last week.
“Israeli companies market their weapons and technology as tried and tested in the field, after they’ve used them in the West Bank and Gaza Strip at the expense of the lives and personal safety of Palestinians.” #StopArmingIsrael #MilitaryEmbargo https://t.co/zl8Sbs4A5v
— BDS movement (@BDSmovement) June 9, 2019
Representatives from foreign militaries, including from countries with no official diplomatic relations with Israel, also attended the arms expo.
In 2017, Israel claimed it had stopped selling weapons to Myanmar following High Court ruling. It followed mounting pressure from human rights groups.
Myanmar's military has launched a vicious ethnic cleansing campaign targeting the Muslim ethnic minority in the country. Israel sells them weapons, and Myanmar officials just attended a major weapons expo in Israel. https://t.co/8SU34MhMrl pic.twitter.com/dFa24pmesh
— The IMEU (@theIMEU) June 9, 2019
But in the same year, tens of millions of dollars’ worth of arms were reportedly sold to the Myanmar navy despite ongoing allegations of genocide.
News of the sales emerged amid reports that similar boats were used to sink vessels filled with refugees fleeing state violence.
Israel denies it sells weapons to Myanmar. But representatives of the country are still visiting an arms expo in Tel Aviv https://t.co/C0iE29Er94
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) June 4, 2019
Last month, Amnesty International denounced the Israeli government for its arms sales to countries accused of severe human rights violations, including Myanmar.
The Amnesty report said:
“Israeli companies continue to export weapons to countries that systematically violate human rights … Often these weapons reach their destination after a series of transactions, thereby skirting international monitoring and the rules of Israel itself.”
The Massacre of Inn Din: How Rohingya Are Lynched and Held Responsible
by Ramzy Baroud@RamzyBaroud #Rohingya #Myanmar #InnDinhttps://t.co/L2YXyrgCge pic.twitter.com/EPsX64spLW— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) July 23, 2018
About 740,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar for Bangladesh following a brutal military clampdown in their home country in August 2017, joining hundreds of thousands already living in crowded camps.
RT PalestineChron "#Apartheid Arms: Why #Israel Sells Military Equipment to Human Rights Violators https://t.co/u1eyBUhDu2 via PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/kEDVuPygQT"
— Richard Hardigan (@RichardHardigan) May 25, 2019
The UN released a 444-page report in 2018 that said the Myanmar military’s persecution of the stateless Rohingya Muslims warranted the charges of “genocide”.
(Al Araby Al-Jadeed, PC, Social Media)
